Monday, June 28, 2004

I’ll never forget my lunch with Carol and Susan. We went out to a restaurant in downtown St. Louis after attending a seminar on volunteerism. Afterwards, I decided to walk them to the nearby movie theater even though I was unable to stick around for the film. As we approached, I noticed the manager was ripping tickets at the entrance. That was my cue to say goodbye.

"Thanks for lunch Susan! It was great to see you today," I said, followed by a big, friendly hug.

"And Carol, it’s always good to see you too. I'll email you next week about those cartoons we talked about," I said while I gave her an equally big, friendly hug.

The manager, having watched this show of friendship and spying on my nametag, ripped their tickets. And before Susan and Carol took a step into the theater, he opened his arms wide, walked up to me and said, “Scott...it was great to see you today! How about a hug?!”

We all burst into laughter! And without a hitch, I gave the manager a huge hug.

I've been wearing a nametag for over four years – and that has NEVER happened before. I must say, it was one of the friendliest moments I ever experienced. And all the manager did was take advantage of the free offering of my name.